If it weren’t for Ford Field being indoors, you could easily see the sky falling on the Detroit Lions.
Although the team sits at 2-2 on the season, things feel far more grim. The Lions defensive ineptitudes once again stole the spotlight for the wrong reasons. Because the defense is struggling to stop any opponent, it is leading to the offense having to muster a perfect game. The Lions managed to stay alive against the New Orleans Saints in Week 1 and the New York Jets in Week 3, but things came crashing
down against the Carolina Panthers.
The Lions offense has some issues to work through, but not only is there a blueprint for success there, we have seen enough flashes through four weeks to instill some faith and confidence. The same cannot be said about the defense, a unit that has sunk the Lions early in the season. The question going forward is whether the Lions can bail their way out of this shipwreck, or if the defense will continue to drag them to the depths of the NFL.
Today’s Question of the Day is:
Is the 2026 Detroit Lions defense fixable?
My answer: No.
I want to be optimistic about the defense—I really do. Aidan Hutchinson is making an impact on every snap. Alim McNeill has rebounded phenomenally in 2026 and looks like the player that deserved a $97 million contract. Jack Campbell is coming off an All-Pro season. Tyleik Williams has taken a big step in his second season. D.J. Wonnum has been a solid addition to the defensive line. Derrick Barnes looks much-improved after a rough 2025 campaign. Brian Branch is seemingly close to returning.
For all the faults in the secondary, the defense has enough pieces that it should at least look competent. We are not asking for the prime Baltimore Ravens or Seattle Seahawks that led their team to a Super Bowl. This Lions team could suffice with even an average or below-average defense. Instead, we are facing one of the worst starts to a season in history:
The 2020 Lions team went 5-11 and was the dying corpse of the Matt Patricia era. The 2008 team was the infamous 0-16 team in contention for worst team in history. The fact that the 2026 Lions are meant to be in their Super Bowl window and are trotting out a defense like this is inexcusable.
Worse yet, I think that the Lions have made their bed with the 2026 roster. They will live and likely die by their defense playing incapable football. No amount of in-season adjustments can fix it. I do not think that firing Kelvin Sheppard will solve the issue. Whether his replacement came from inside or outside the organization, the team would have to undergo a significant identity change within the span of a few weeks. This is something that can happen over the course of a training camp. I do not see this happening midseason, especially with an early Week 6 bye.
One argument in favor of firing Sheppard is justifiable: it’s not like the Lions can get much worse, right? For how chaotic a midseason schematic change could be, the Lions clearly cannot continue with the status quo. However, I think too many things would have to go right to course correct the defense. At this point, there is no singular solution. Unfortunately, the Lions simply do not have time to correct most of their mistakes.
Let us examine a best-case scenario. Not only do the Lions need Brian Branch to return to the lineup soon, but they would also need him to return at a high level—looking at McNeill’s 2025 campaign, you can see how that is far from guarantee. Perhaps even Kerby Joseph returns, although it presently feels like Santa Claus could return before Joseph. If the Lions do make a coaching change, that coordinator would have to overhaul a playbook months in the making in a matter of weeks, all while improving communication and execution. Finally, the Lions would have to add more talent to the secondary via trade, moves that would surely cost them capital and cap space and threaten their ability to restock in 2027—something that might be necessary at this rate. On top of all that, the Lions need the current roster to stay healthy.
I am not trying to have a knee-jerk reaction, but four games is enough of a sample size to be concerned. For the Lions to turn around this defense, they need a lot to go in their favor.
